


RED ANGEL

by flyboyy



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: ALSO THERE WILL BE TRAUMA, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Beta read by Nico n Duck! Thank u, Disaster Twins, Fluff, Gen, I have no idea how long this will be, Loads of Angst, Neon Leon, Other, Savage!Raph, TCEST GO AWAY, THE AO3 TEAM YELLED AT ME FOR A TAG AHGDGFHSFGDHJDF, and also im gonna project onto Leon the WHOLE time, anyway, battle nexus, graphic depictions of mutation, hey gang, i am. So very tired., i guess i should. Hmmmmmm, i guess im writing tmnt fanfic now?, i just. Hmm hyperfixtations are wild, i want to hug Raphie i feel so bad for him smh, idk how good I'll be at writing fights, im TEMPTED to write in the The Window Yeet but probbles not., lotsa disaster twins fluff, ok so like. Slash is one of my favorite anti-heroes in 2012 and i think he'd be neat to have in Rise, probably violent, shes technically the co-creator of this story so everyone say thanks for that, the most dramatic scene in this was thought of by my 13-year-old sister
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:00:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27023155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyboyy/pseuds/flyboyy
Summary: Big Mama needs a new champion. Raph is separated. A bounty hunter wants revenge. Donnie is tired.
Comments: 21
Kudos: 43





	1. prologue

Big Mama was not happy. Which meant everyone _else_ was not happy.

Her most recent champion, an unpredictable hellhound/wolf-like yokai, similar to Gus, had escaped. She didn't understand it, why had they left? _How_ had they left? They had been doing so well, and had been so close to that trophy, only to just... leave. The whole situation had left her in a funk, therefore leaving her whole staff on edge. 

Sure, there were other fighters, but she didn't have a _champion_. Since the damned turtles hadn't gotten her the Ooze-squitos she needed to make her own, Baron Draxum was out of the whole "being evil" business, and nobody was eager to volunteer themselves for the Nexus, she knew she had to be clever. She needed a plan.

And oh, did she come up with one.

»»»

It had been about three weeks ago when the incident had occurred. 

The boys, along with "newly reformed" Huginn and Muninn,had been sent by Draxum to retrieve some materials from his old lab, as punishment for getting too rowdy over dinner the previous night.

While digging through the now decrepit laboratory, the Disaster Twins had unearthed a batch of cryogenically frozen Ooze-squitos. Donnie had been ecstatic, ranting excitedly about the tests he could do, the possibility of a retro-mutagen, when Leo, who had been holding it loosely, fumbled and dropped the canister, instantly shattering the glass.

There was a beat of silence, a terrified grin flickering over Leo's face as he stared at the quickly defrosting bugs. Donnie looked slowly from the mess to his brother, his eyes wide. 

One of the bugs twitched, and Muninn yelped. 

"Quick, grab them before-!" Donnie began, swooping down to recapture the bugs, a second too late. They defrosted faster than expected, and while the twins and goyles had managed to grab most of them, two did manage to wriggle away.

Two that flew up, up, up, and out of the cracks in the ceiling.

One was eaten by a passing crow almost immediately, but the other travelled across the city, and landed on the back of the hand of a large, muscular man. He called himself Spike, and he was helping the local Reptile Man load up for his next show. 

Spike had just tripped up the loading platform, dropping the terrarium that held the snapping turtle. The very large snapping turtle. He froze, but then steeled himself. The turtle wasn't that big, he thought, he could handle it.

Well, snapping turtles are known to be aggressive. And dangerous. And they bite, _hard._ This particular snapper wasn't in the best of moods either, considering he hadn't been fed recently, or that he was kept in a 2x4 foot glass case 24/7, or was constantly being clamored around by loud, small children, with bright colors and shrill voices.

So, no, Spike could not handle it when the snapper clamped down on his hand, breaking several bones and crushing his veins and muscles in a single, powerful bite.

In the same instant, a wandering Ooze-squito happened upon this poor, unsuspecting man, and decided it wanted a snack. It delicately landed on the back of his hand, and began to drink.

Spike was a big guy. He'd been in plenty of fights and accidents, the scar over his left eye could attest to that. But he had _never_ hurt like this before. His body erupted in pain, his muscles and DNA contorting as the Ooze travelled through his bloodstream. It mixed his DNA with the turtle's, and it transformed him. 

His skin became rough and scaly, and turned a deep grey-green. A shell began to form on his back, tearing his shirt to shreds. Spikes shot out of his shoulders and forearms, and he watched through blurred and pained vision as his five fingers solidified into three massive, clawed talons. He tried to scream, but all that came out was a guttural roar, smothered in his throat. 

Shaking and still transforming, he drug himself away from the neon lights of the city, down an alley, and curled up behind a dumpster. He tucked his tail- that was new- around himself and shuddered. His body stopped convulsing and shifting, and he lay there, breathing hard. How could a creature so big feel so small? 

He lay motionless, trying to get a bearing, for what felt like hours, when he heard voices. Faint, but growing steadily louder and closer. 

"We need t' find those bugs, guys," said a voice, a bit rough, but steady. "We don't know what kind of problems they could be causing, and we do NOT need anymore crazy mutants running around."

A second voice hummed in agreement, and then answered, "Well, if Nardo hadn't dropped the case-"

Another voice chimed in, higher pitched than the other two, "Dee, you know better than to trust me with that kinda stuff!"

The second voice- Dee, apparently- responded again, "Scoff! You still should have been ca-"

The first voice interrupted. "Guys! Knock it off. Its already happened, and there's nothin' we can do about it."

The voices seemed to be coming from up above, on the rooftop, and sure enough, as Spike- no, not Spike, he wasn't Spike, not anymore- looked up, his new eyes seeing through the dark, he spotted, to his surprise, four other turtles.

They were obviously younger, and they all seemed to be around the age of 14-15. Teenagers, he assumed, by the way they talked, too.

They all sported gear of some sort, and all appeared to be somewhat color coded. Red, blue, purple, and orange. They were all definitely turtles, and all part of the same group or gang, but the similarities stopped there. They all seemed to be different kinds of turtles. One was a snapper like him, he noticed.

The mutant in the alley knew one other thing about these turtles, too.

 _They_ were the ones responsible for his transformation, and they were going to pay.


	2. Champion Wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wuh oh chezzy, things r getting wild

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YO I forgot to tell y'all but this takes place AFTER the finale, so spoilers ahead! Proceed with caution my dudes

_Two weeks ago_

Posters had started showing up around the Hidden City. Everybody saw them, and now everyone was aware that Big Mama was on the hunt for a new fighter. A new champion.

The posters simply read, in bold, neon colours and letters:

**_CHAMPION WANTED!_ **

**_Enter your bravest fighter to prove themself in the Battle Nexus!_ **

**_Must be ruthless, strong, and fearless!_ **

**_High reward for whoever brings the next Champion!_ **

They caught the eye of a lot of _yokai_ , none of them particularly nice. The wording of " _enter your bravest fighter"_ implied that the fighter in question didn't have to be willing, which meant that bounty hunters, looking to make a quick buck, started taking jobs they maybe normally wouldn't. Quick grabs, in which the employer didn't care whether the bounty returned dead or alive, or returned at all.

A few of these random fighters made it in, but all were killed off or eliminated quickly in the early fights. Big Mama had not found her champion just yet.

The posters and recent activity had caught the attention of two crab-like mutants. They called themselves the Sando Brothers, and they were broke. Their main source of income had been entertainment, but that was slim pickings nowadays. 

So when they saw the posters, advertising the need for fighters, and the reward money involved, they both agreed they needed to act fast. At first, they tried to volunteer themselves, but soon found out that no, they did _not_ have what it takes, and were promptly kicked to the curb. So Plan A failed.

"That didn't work." remarked Ben, as they walked through the dimly lit streets of the Hidden City.

"Told ya your disguises were a bad idea, they totally knew it was us." his brother replied, frowning. "We need new disguises, and this time, I'm picking them out."

"No, no, no, we need something else. We obviously can't fight, not well enough for _her,_ at least. We need to find a fighter." Ben sighed.

They walked in silence for a while, when Carl suddenly cocked his head, "Hey, what about that... that turtle?" He frowned when his brother made a gagging noise in response. "Oh, shuddup, you know, the one that tried to eat us! The red one. He's pretty big, good at fighting, right?"

They stopped and sat down on a bench nearby, next to an alley and a barber shop. Ben grimaced, and thought the idea over.

"That's... risky. He tried to eat us, you know, he's _huge_ and even if we can get him alone and away from those three brothers of his, there's no way we could take him." He stopped for a minute, thinking again. "We could grab one of the smaller ones, maybe? The orange one, perhaps?"

Carl shook his head. "Nah. He's the youngest, if we nab him, then we've got three angry older brothers to worry about. And before you say anything, not the blue or purple one, either. As long as the red one is in the picture, they'll have a leader, therefore they're going to be organized." He paused. "Well, more organized than they _would_ be." 

"So Red is the only way to go. Hmm. He'd be a good fighter, that's for sure, and if we can tap into that weird, scary, unhinged side of him, we could probably get that reward money fast," his brother replied, "The only problem is, how do we get him?"

" _I think I could help with that._ " came a voice from the alley.

The brothers yelped, and snapped their attention to the shadows that hid the stranger. 

Slowly, with thundering footsteps, a hulking _yokai_ lumbered out of the shadows. 

He was huge, towering over the crabs. His skin was a dark, grey-green, with yellowed spikes erupting from his shoulders, head, and knuckles. Two spikes jutted out of his forehead, like horns. He resembled Red, they seemed to both be the same kind of turtle, but besides that, the two couldn't be more different. He had a huge, dark shell, and wicked looking claws on both his hands and feet. A heavy looking tail dragged behind him, scraping across the damp pavement as he walked towards them. He had a black bandana tied around his head, and as he glared at them, Ben noticed his eyes. The right eye had black sclera, with a burning, feverish yellow iris. His left eye, however, was purely that sickly yellow, with a scar cutting across it, down to is jaw. He had a bandolier strapped across his chest, that hooked to belt that had several pouches- along with a wicked looking baseball bat with nails hammered into it- attached to the sides of it. Affixed to the front was a huge, shiny, belt buckle in the shape of an "S", that held up a pair of tattered cargo pants.

"The name's Slash." He growled in a low, rumbling voice. "Heard you were lookin' for the turtles."

Carl gulped, and took a step back. "Y-yeah, so? What's it to you?" He asked, trying and failing to sound tough.

Slash smiled, and it made the crabs uneasy. "I want in. I could grab that big one, easy. You two would keep the money, I could care less. What I want is _revenge_."

_Keep the money?_

The brothers shared a look. That seemed too good to be true. But what choice did they have? They looked nervously back at Slash, and with a pair of forced grins, said, "Welcome to the team."

\-----------------

_Present day_

Raph trudged wearily into the old lair. It was nearing 6 AM, and he was exhausted. They had been finishing sorting through the rubble of their old home and retrieving their things. The turtles, with the help of April, Huginn and Muninn, had been at it all night, ferrying boxes of stuff from the old place to the new one, and putting things away. 

He had noticed everyone seemed to be getting sleepy, and suffering from a bit of emotional distress at seeing the ruined lair, so he'd ordered everyone to bed, and went back for the last few loads himself. Most of it was his stuff anyways, plus a few of Mikey's canvases and markers. 

He scooped up a few scattered fine-liners and gel pens, and absent-mindedly stuffed them in his coat pocket, shivering at a sudden gust of cold morning air. It had been getting colder the past few weeks, and they had just barely gotten the heating working in the new lair before the first heavy rain fell. The sun was begging to rise, and it cast a warm orange light across everything.

Raph shoved a piece of rubble out of the way, and found a messy pile of old sketchbooks. He smiled softly, knowing Mikey would be glad to have them back, and as he bent to pick them up, something flashed out of the corner of his eye, bright pink and piercing.

His instincts kicked into overdrive, and he whipped around, mind racing.

_It was the Shredder, he was back, he was here, he was hopping through the gateways again they had to stop him **he hadtoprotecthisbrothers-**_

He squeezed his eyes shut, and took a deep breath, holding it for seven seconds exactly, before exhaling and opening them again.

It was just a scrap of pink fabric, whipping in the cool breeze, caught in the glare of a broken mirror.

Raph dragged a hand down his face, sighing shakily. "Ergh. I really need t' get some sleep." He mumbled to himself, packing the sketchbooks into a cardboard box, which he hefted up onto his shoulder. He began to pick his way across the rubble, towards the tunnel that lead to their new home. 

_Clunk._

Raph straightened, and pivoted, eyes scanning his surroundings. 

Nothing, nothing, looming shadow with glowing yellow eyes, nothing, nothi- wait, what?

Raph barely had time to think before the shadow lunged out and made a grab at him.

He ducked, feinting left, and dropped the box.

"Holy hell, man!" He yelped, rolling out of the way as the shadow came into view, and took a swing at him. "What th- you're like me?" 

The mutant in front of him did indeed look like him, but... darker somehow. And bigger.

 _Much_ bigger.

"Who _are_ you?" Raph grunted, dodging another punch, and reached for his sais.

The mutant suddenly spun and swung their tail around, catching Raph in the back of the knees, knocking him to the ground, and knocking his sais out of his hands.

He hit his head, hard, and saw the other snapper smile, jagged and cruel, as his vision started to go blurry. 

"I'm your worst nightmare." the stranger replied.

That was the last thing Raph saw before it all went dark.

\-----------------

_Meanwhile_

Leo was restless. He was _always_ restless, but for some reason, he was especially jittery tonight. 

Raph had gone back for the last loads, -and sure it was the leftover stress from visiting the ruined lair today talking- but he wasn't back yet, and that made Leo anxious.

The microwave beeped, startling him out of his panicked spiral, announcing that his tea was done heating up.

He wrung his hands and stopped pacing, retrieving his drink.

_This was no way to make tea, they really needed to get a stove in here-_

"Leo?" came a voice from the doorway.

Leo jumped again. "What the _hell,_ Angelo, you scared me! You're getting real good at that whole ninja stealth thing."

His brother grinned softly, and hopped onto the counter. "Thanks. Hey, Dad said to come get you t' make sure you went to bed."

Leo _hmmed_ in response, adding far too much honey to his mug.

"And what about you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mikey sighed and looked at him, exasperated. " _I_ go to bed when I'm _told,_ so I actually _will_ when I'm finished with you. Dude, you need to sleep. C'mon, please, Leo?"

Leo frowned. "I'll go to bed when I finish my tea, how 'bout that?"

Mikey frowned back, disapprovingly. 

Leo winced. "Geez, _that_ was a Raph face. I swear I'll go straight to bed when I'm done, Todd Scouts honour." He saluted and winked, making Mikey giggle.

"Fine, but if I find out you stayed up a SECOND later than what we agreed, you've got a big storm coming." He squinted at Leo. "I'll have Donnie put sedatives in your pizza again."

Leo laughed. "Yes _sir_ , understood."

Mikey hugged him, and stepped quietly out of the room.

Leo watched his little brother go, and sighed, taking a sip of tea and leaning his head on his hand.

He felt a familiar warm, electric buzz fill his ears, and he gasped at the sudden change in pressure. "Shit!" He whispered.

The buzzing stopped, and the mind meld faded. "What on earth-?"

It had been Raph broadcasting, he knew that much, but why? He rubbed at a stain on the table. Ever since the fight with Shredder, and the whole "super-ninja-Hamato-powers", they had all been accidentally mind melding and the like, Raph especially, projecting random thoughts or emotions onto each other. Leo had gotten a few cursed images from Mikey before, suddenly, at about three AM, disrupting his dreams. Donnie usually projected numbers or music, and Raph was mostly just very strong emotions.

Like now, when Leo had gotten a huge wave of pure _panic_.

He stared into his tea, now unpleasantly lukewarm, and furrowed his brow.

No, Raph was fine. He wasn't gonna let his nerves get to him, that wasn't fair. Raph probably just dropped or lost something, which would probably suck lots, but that didn't mean he was in trouble. 

_Right?_

Leo sat there for a few more minutes, feeling the warmth of the tea fade, and feeling a knot grow in the pit of his stomach.

"Rgh. I need to go to bed." He muttered, getting up to dump his tea down the drain. Raph would be back in the morning, he assured himself, and strode out of the kitchen, turning the lights off as he left.

He trudged down the hallway, pausing at Donnie's door and creaking it open. His brother lay curled in the corner of his bed, snoring softly.

Leo smiled and shut the door, and checked up on Mikey as well, who was sprawled out, sound asleep, his blankets in a big pile at the foot of his bed.

He smiled again, and headed off to his room, somewhat comforted by the knowledge that at least the rest of his family was safe.

He collapsed onto his bed, and pulled a worn grey hoodie over his head, flicking the hood back to unite his mask. He hung it up on the nail above him, yawning.

Worry ate at him still as he pulled the blankets up to his chin.

"Raph is okay. He _has_ to be." He whispered to himself.

It was a long time before he got some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're trying to figure out what the new lair looks like, just imagine the 2012 tmnt lair but with tons of fairy/christmas lights and instead of the dojo there's a big family room idk


	3. it's alright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some folks wake up to the nasty truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My writing sucks I'm aware, this is probably vaguely ooc but. I am so tired and refuse to write out Big Mama's nonsense words

Donnie awoke to the sound of muffled conversation from the living room- or at least what counted as a living room there. It took him a moment to get himself orientated, briefly forgetting that _oh, yeah, they were in the new lair,_ which seemed a lot colder and a lot damper than usual.

That might've just been the late fall air coming through the subway tunnels, but Donnie shivered all the same as he threw his blankets off and hopped out of bed, reaching for his mask and shell.

Hooking the spider-like shell onto his shoulders and clicking it in place, he wandered out of his room and into the main space, yawning.

Leo, April, and Mikey were arguing in hushed voices, sitting on the edge of the small indent in the ground that housed the television, casting nervous glances towards their fathers room. April spotted him, and gestured for him to come over.

"Yo, Don, did you hear Raph come in yesterday morning?" Mikey asked with a edge of panic in his voice as he got close.

Donnie frowned as he sat down, and rested his chin on his palm, tapping the side of his face. "... no, I can't say that I did, although, I was pretty much out cold last night." he paused, then added, "Why do you ask?"

Leo made a distressed noise, and Mikey seemed to deflate. The box turtle shrunk in on himself, anxiously.

"Well, this isn't good." Leo muttered, burying his face in his hands and sighing shakily.

Donnie raised an eyebrow and looked at everyone, confused. "Guys? Anyone want to tell me what's going on?"

April patted Leo's shell, and looked at Donnie. "Raph's missing.", she explained, looking uncharacteristically worried.

Donnie felt a jolt of panic that he quickly smothered. "Wh- wait, hold on, Raph is _missing?_ Why on earth wouldn't you _lead with that-_ " He closed his eyes and sighed. "Ok. Alright. Well, there's no way he just disappeared, when did we last see him?"

"Last night, when he went to get the last load and he told me 'Leo, you better be in bed by the time I get back, or we're gonna have a problem.' and then he left, and now he's _gone._ " Leo replied, sounding very distressed and distracted. "We gotta find him, what if something happened to him, he could be in trouble, or-"

He trailed off, looking at the concrete floor. His hands were shaking.

Donnie sighed again, "First off, Raphael is _huge_ , there's nothing that could really hurt him, he's built like a brick wall. He can defend himself, we know that. Second, just calm down for a minute, Leo, we can go look for him after we eat breakfast, okay?" 

Leo nodded, distracted still, before seeming to come back from staring into space and nodded again, more focused this time. "Yeah, yeah- yeah, alright, ok, it's a plan." He smiled softly.

Mikey perked up slightly. "Breakfast? I could make pancakes, maybe? Raph likes pancakes!" He jumped up, and skipped towards the kitchen, not waiting for an answer.

April laughed and got up. "That kid's brain goes a mile a minute, huh? I'll go supervise."

Donnie grinned at her, and then shifted his attention back to Leo, who looked distracted again. "...You good, Nardo?" he asked, tentatively. "What's going on with you? You're.. uncharacteristically quiet."

Leo seemed to sit up straighter, and waved him off. "I'm just.. I'm just worried, is all. It's... nothing, I promise. Raph indubitably just stayed the night in the old lair or something, he did seem tired."

Donnie squinted at his twin. "Leo, c'mon. Raph isn't the only one who can tell when you're hiding something."

Leo bit his lip and looked at the ground, defeated. "Alright- okay. I- Raph- I think we mind melded last night? I don't think Raph did it on purpose, but that's almost worse, he- like, you know how when he does it it's just like a flood of emotions? Last night, I was trying to make some tea, and I got that weird static noise, and I felt this huge wave of panic. Like, it was _intense_ , Don, it hurt my head, and then it was gone. I _know_ it came from Raph but-" he trailed off.

Donnie felt a knot grow in the pit of his stomach. "Did you tell Mikey yet?" He asked, quietly.

His twin shook his head, and sighed. The two turtles sat for a moment, a feeling of dread settling over them. 

Donnie leaned back to rest on his elbows. "Whatever we find there isn't gonna be good, is it?"

"Nope." Leo replied, and stood up after another beat of silence. He lightly kicked Donnie in the arm. "C'mon. Let's go make sure those two don't burn the kitchen down."

\----------

_Earlier, upstairs_

Finally. After what had seemed like ages, someone had brought something promising.

Supposedly.

Big Mama had gotten an alert, right after lunch, that someone had found her a champion. She had been told he "looked promising", whatever that meant, and had been more than skeptical. Everybody had brought her a fighter that "looked promising". Why should this one be any different?

She swallowed her doubt when she saw the looming figure sitting across from her, barely fitting in the chair provided. 

He glowered down at her with two piercing yellow eyes. She met his gaze, unfaltering as always. There was a beat of silence as she quickly gave him a once-over. He was big, and muscular, definitely a fighter of some kind, or could at least stand his ground. The oddest thing was, he looked like the biggest turtle, what was his name- Raphael? Well, he looked like Raphael's evil twin.

Interesting.

"So. I've been told you've brought me my new champion, hmm?" She asked, smiling up at him. "Are _you_ going to fight for me, perhaps?" 

The mutant grunted in response, shaking his head almost imperceptibly. "Nah. But 'e is."

He gestured towards the door, where two guards were standing. They both nodded at him, and briefly exited the room, only to return dragging a shape between them, straining. No, a body, she realized.

"Oh, good heavens, are they alright?" She inquired, forcing faux sympathy over her curiosity.

"Eh. Probably", he said as they set the figure down, heavily, on her carpet. He bent down to remove the cloth sack, and Big Mama stifled a gasp of surprise.

It was the big turtle, Raphael, their leader. He didn't look too great, face slack and slightly bruised, with dark stains near the back of his mask and on his neck. It was dried blood, having apparently been knocked out. He lay crumpled on the ground, looking like a discarded toy. She felt a pang of sympathy for the poor turtle. 

"Ah, you've brought me one of the turtley-boos, I see. How interesting." She sniffed, and circled around the desk to crouch down next to the teen, touching his head lightly. "He'll fight well, certainly, but...ah... do you really think he's going to fight willingly? How to you plan to get around that fact? I've had my share of interactions with him and his brothers before, and they're nothing short of stubborn."

The bigger snapper in front of her smiled crookedly. "Th' guys who 'elped me had an idea. They're the ones you should pay, by the way, I don't want any credit." He laughed, dark and low. "Revenge is good enough for me."

"I'll see that they get rewarded, if he makes it far enough in the arena. I didn't catch your name, Mr...?" She pressed, as curious about the huge mutant as she was the idea of having one of the Turtles fight for her.

"Slash. Bounty hunter, at your service, ma 'am", he replied, ducking his head in a slight bow. "The two idiots told me that if 'e's left alone for long enough, 'e'll snap. Becomes totally ruthless, apparently."

Big Mama quirked up an eyebrow. "Is that so? Well." She considered it for a moment. "We do have an isolation ward we could keep him in until he... 'snaps', as you say."

"That'll work jus' fine." Slash nodded, and turned to leave. "Pleasure doing business wit' you."

"And with you." She replied pleasantly, as she watched his retreating shell, a wicked and clever idea forming in her head.

"He's likely to be a good candidate, too." She mused to herself, with a glance down at the teenager currently unconscious on her floor. "If this one fails... well. Now we know where to find another."

She smirked, giggling to herself. "Oh, guards? Take this kiddie down to the Hole, please and thank you!"

The two hulking yokai nodded curtly, and seized the mutant under the armpits, dragging him unceremoniously from the room.

She felt another pang of pity as the door closed behind them. He was just a kid, after all. 

Slash, however, was _not._

_\-------------_

_Meanwhile_

The first thing Raphael felt was cold stone. Cold, rough, uneven stone. He was lying face down... somewhere. Somewhere dark, and vaguely damp. At first, he thought it might be the new lair, but it became clear that he couldn't be further from home as he tried to get a sense of his surroundings

His head felt thick and heavy as he sat up, squinting in the dim, reddish light. It felt sore right above his neck, and as he touched a hand to it, it came away sticky with half-dried blood. He winced. "That ain't good." He mumbled, still feeling off kilter.

The snapper blinked rapidly, trying to clear the fog that had settled over his brain. He was sat in a poorly lit room, with floors and walls roughly hewn out of dark stone. The red light was coming from a hatch in the ceiling, where he assumed was how he had gotten in here. 

... _how had he gotten in here, again?_

There were small, rectangular vents- around a foot long and six inches tall- at the top center of each wall. From them, he could hear faint voices, sounds of muffled conversation, like listening to a crowded room underwater.

There didn't seem to be any furniture, or decorations of any kind, just a worn looking blanket thrown haphazardly in the corner. 

Raph frowned. "He...hello?" he called hesitantly, throat hoarse. He coughed, and stood shakily. "Anyone there?" He limped to the wall closest to him, and stood on his tiptoes to look through the vent. 

All he could see was darkness, deep and maddening. If he strained, he could pick out metallic sides. Definitely an air vent, then. He frowned, ignoring the sense of creeping panic, and went to check the other vents, only to be greeted by the same inky black, void-like, and the same distant voices.

He was alone.

Raph squeezed his eyes shut, and slumped down in the corner with the blanket. He shivered against the stone, and pulled the blanket around himself. It was just big enough to wrap around his broad shoulders, and he buried his face in the scratchy fabric, trying to steady himself again.

The truth weighed down on him, and he curled into himself, shrinking. Where was he? Where were his brothers? Where...

_Alone. All alone_.

Raph growled softly in frustration. "No. No, I won't. That's not gonna happen, not again." He blinked away the hot tears that threatened to spill over, and sniffed. " _Anatawa Hitorijani_. Yeah. I'm- I'm not alone. I have m' brothers, and they'll find me. They'll find me." He reassured himself, trying to smother the sharp feeling of panic that refused to leave.

He sat for a moment, slowing his breathing. "...where am I, anyway?" He wondered aloud. He wracked his brain, tryin to recall what had happened. "I was... I was goin' to get the last load, an'... there was another snapping turtle!" He remembered suddenly, seeing the sickly yellow glow of the other turtles eyes, vivid in his mind. "That guy must've knocked me out, and brought me here. Wherever here is, anyway." He trailed off, head feeling fuzzy again from the mental strain.

"...must've... hit m' head pretty hard." He mumbled, settling against the wall. "Th' guys better get here soon."

He closed his eyes, trying to pretend the muffled voices he heard were from his family, somewhere just out of sight.

Somehow, he felt very, very small.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, dudes, this ain't the last we'll see of Slash...
> 
> Song to go with this chapter: "it's alright" by jack stauber :)


End file.
